1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electron beam control method of controlling a path of an electron beam, an electron beam drawing apparatus and a method of fabricating a semiconductor device.
2. Related Art
To improve a throughput of an electron beam drawing apparatus, an electron beam drawing apparatus of a character projection scheme has been proposed. In this scheme, a plurality of pattern openings having a plurality of shapes are formed in an aperture mask and selectively irradiates the pattern openings with an electron beam. Therefore, a beam pattern generated by the electron beam passing through the pattern openings is projected with a reduced size on a sample such as a semiconductor wafer (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-54396).
In the character projection scheme, the pattern openings corresponding to a repeated pattern included in a drawing pattern are formed in advance in the aperture mask. The surface of the sample is scanned while a CP selective deflector deflects the electron beam to pass through an arbitrary pattern opening.
However, the character projection scheme uses the CP selective deflector to deflect the electron beam by a larger amount than conventional variable shaping schemes. Consequently, the electron beam is likely to deviate from an ideal optical axis, and beam leakage may occur.
When such beam leakage occurs, the pattern cannot be accurately drawn on the sample, thereby deteriorating yield.